Group project planner that keeps the whole team on track
Group projects go wrong the same way every time: nobody owns the tasks, the deadline sneaks up, and two people do everything. Give your agent the brief, the team and the due date, and it splits the work by skills, sets internal deadlines a few days early, makes a shared Excel tracker and sends weekly check-in reminders to your group.
The prompt
- Plan our group project: [PROJECT BRIEF]. The final deadline is [DUE DATE]. Team members and strengths: [NAMES AND STRENGTHS]. Break the project into tasks, estimate hours for each, and split them so everyone has a fair share and one clear area they own. Set internal deadlines with a full draft done [BUFFER] before the due date, and a final review meeting. Give me an Excel tracker with columns for task, owner, due date, status and notes, a week-by-week timeline, and a short group agreement (how we communicate, what happens if someone misses a deadline). Then remind me every [REMINDER DAY AND TIME] on [CHANNEL] with what is due that week.
What to change
- [PROJECT BRIEF]: Paste the assignment or attach the brief (PDF or photo), including the marking rubric if you have it.
- [DUE DATE]: E.g. "November 28, 5 pm", plus any presentation date.
- [NAMES AND STRENGTHS]: E.g. "Lina: research, Omar: design and slides, Jake: data and Excel, me: writing".
- [BUFFER]: How early the draft should be done, e.g. "5 days" or "one week".
- [REMINDER DAY AND TIME]: E.g. "Monday at 6 pm".
- [CHANNEL]: "WhatsApp", "Telegram", "Discord", "Slack" or "email". You can forward it to the group.
Example result
- Project: marketing plan for a local business (Business 210)
- Due: Friday, November 28. Presentation: December 1. Team: Lina, Omar, Jake, Maya.
- Who owns what
- • Lina (research): business background, competitor research, customer survey questions (about 9 h)
- • Jake (data): run the survey, analyze results in Excel, make 3 charts (about 9 h)
- • Maya (writing): introduction, marketing strategy section, final edit for one voice (about 10 h)
- • Omar (design): slide deck, report layout, budget table (about 8 h)
- Timeline
- • Week 1 (Oct 27): kickoff call, agree on the business, Lina drafts survey questions
- • Week 2 (Nov 3): survey live; Lina finishes competitor research
- • Week 3 (Nov 10): Jake analyzes survey data; Maya writes the strategy outline
- • Week 4 (Nov 17): all sections drafted; Omar builds slides from the drafts
- • Nov 23: full draft done (5 days of buffer)
- • Nov 25: review meeting, everyone reads the whole report and leaves comments
- • Nov 27: final version submitted a day early
- • Nov 30: presentation rehearsal, each person presents their own part
- Group agreement
- • We use the group chat for updates and reply within 24 hours.
- • Each Monday everyone posts: done, doing next, blocked by.
- • If a deadline will be missed, say so 48 hours ahead and swap a task.
- • If work is still missing after a reminder, we tell the instructor together, with the tracker as a record.
- Weekly reminder (sent Mondays at 6 pm on WhatsApp)
- "Week 3 check-in: Jake, survey analysis due Sunday. Maya, strategy outline due Sunday. Lina and Omar, no deadline this week; Omar, please start the slide template. Reply with your update."
How to do it with todo.is
- Copy the prompt and fill in the brief, the deadline, your teammates and their strengths, the buffer and the reminder time.
- Paste it into todo.is on the Today screen, or send it to your agent on WhatsApp or Telegram.
- Download the Excel tracker, share it with your group, and agree on the plan in your first meeting.
- Your agent sends the weekly reminder. Tell it when tasks change ("Jake is sick, move his deadline to Thursday") and it updates the plan.
Tips for a better result
- Give each person one area they own end to end. Shared ownership usually means no ownership.
- Finish the full draft several days early. The last days should be for editing into one consistent voice, not writing.
- Check the rubric and give each criterion an owner, so nothing that earns marks gets forgotten.
- Keep the tracker up to date. If someone does not contribute, it is your record when you talk to the instructor.
group project planner: FAQ
- Can it send reminders to the whole group? It sends the reminder to you on WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord or email, and you can forward it to the group chat. Email reminders can include your teammates' addresses after you approve.
- How do I split group work fairly? Estimate hours per task, not just the number of tasks, and match tasks to strengths. The tracker shows each person's total hours so the split is visible.
- What if a group member does not do their part? Raise it early and directly, refer to the agreed plan and deadlines, and if nothing changes, talk to your instructor with the tracker as evidence.
- Does a recurring reminder cost extra? Each run uses a few AI credits from your plan. A weekly reminder for a month-long project uses very little.
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